BW Digital has acquired land for a data center in Batam, Indonesia. The cable operator and Citramas Group this week announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the ‘joint development of a carrier-neutral digital ecosystem’ in Batam’s Nongsa Digital Park (NDP), which is owned by Citramas.
BW Digital, a subsidiary of BW Group, has acquired more than 55,000 square meters (592,015 sq ft) of land at Nongsa Digital Park to build an 80MW data center. Timelines for development weren’t shared.
As joint partners, BW Digital and Citramas Group said they will work together to deliver Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions out of BW Digital’s upcoming data center.
Assets and services will include landing infrastructure for new submarine cables, international and domestic connectivity, data storage facilities, and computing power for the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.
Ludovic Hutier, BW Digital CEO, said: "This new step anchors BW Digital’s long-term vision to create a neutral and trusted digital ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region, in tandem with the development of Hawaiki Nui, our new subsea cable, which will first connect South East Asia and Australasia.”
BW Digital owns and operates the Hawaiki subsea cable linking Australia, New Zealand, and the US. The company is developing the Hawaiki Nui cable set to links the US, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore. BW Group acquired Hawaiki in May 2022
Mike Wiluan, Citramas Group CEO, added: “Citramas is honored to have BW Digital join the Nongsa Digital Park Ecosystem to further develop its data center and connectivity infrastructure. BW Digital’s expertise and experience in this area adds immense value in furthering NDP as a strategic data center hub in the region, connecting Indonesia to key global markets.”
Founded in 1908, Indonesian conglomerate Citramas operates multiple businesses spanning shipping and logistics, drilling services, port and ferry terminal infrastructure development, oilfield equipment manufacturing, hotels, animation and film, and hospitality and leisure.
Batam is the largest city in the Riau Islands and is located close to Singapore, on the opposite side of the Singapore Strait.
Nongsa Park, developed by Citramas Group, has been granted special economic zone (SEZ) status, which provides beneficial tax tariffs. Singtel, Gaw, PDG, and GDS are also developing in Nongsa Park. BW also owns DataGrid, a venture to develop a data center in New Zealand.
